Twisted Love
Season Two
Brave New World
DISCLAIMER: I do not own any of the Vampire Diaries, I only own Grace :)
At Mystic Falls Hospital Caroline gasped awake glancing around the dark room, she was all alone. Maybe everything was a dream, the blonde thoughts, it really felt like Elena and Grace were there last night...
Throwing her thin legs carefully over the uncomfortable hospital bed she stood up on the icy rubber floor and creeped out of the room to see just one nurse sitting there mauling over a coffee trying to keep herself away as she watched a small television showing a cheesy soap opera.
"Excuse me?" Caroline's voice was small and hoarse "Where is everyone?"
"It's the middle of the night, honey." The half cast nurse explained.
"It is?" Caroline looked at the clock on the wall "Oh, uh ... have you seen my mom?"
The nurse creased her trimmed eye brows "She left after dinner with your boyfriend and then your friends Elena and Grace stopped by." She replied with a small smile.
"She did? Yeah, she did, but they said that their names were Katherine and Fayth. Can I just get something to eat?" Caroline asked, her throat was burning and her stomach was aching with a hunger she thought she could never satisfy.
"Breakfast comes around seven." The nurse replied brushing her off.
"But I'm hungry." Caroline replied placing her hand on her stomach that was hurting from the hunger she was going through.
"You should go back to sleep." The nurse rose from her seat making sure to watch as Caroline stepped back in towards her room, but the blonde stopped and crinkled her nose at the curious metallic smell drifting through her nostrils almost making her mouth water.
"What is the smell?" Caroline questioned.
"Back to bed." The nurse pointed and Caroline nodded and turned.
The nurse walked down the hall to check on her other patients and Caroline stayed put trying to suss out what the smell was. She began to search the hall until she arrived outside of a patients room, the first thing she saw was a crimson red blood pouch hanging from a metal pole, taking quiet steps towards it she reached out and ran her fingers over the shiny plastic so close to quenching her thirst.
"What are you doing here?" The nurse interrogated in a hushed voice making sure not to wake the patient that was in a peaceful slumber.
"I don't know." Caroline shook her head, she truly was unsure why she was there craving a bag of blood.
"You need to go back to bed." The nurse took Caroline's wrist leading her to her room, placing her inside and shutting the door leaving her all alone.
What the nurse didn't know what the Caroline had managed to steal a blood pouch before she could see, taking a seat on the edge of her bed she pierced the bag and took a drink from it, disgusted she launched the bag to the floor, but the blood spilled out and she couldn't resist going back for more, grabbing it from the floor she sucked the pouch dry, but when she pulled back a great deal of pain throbbed in her mouth as a cracking noise was heard and her fangs popped down.
The next morning at Mystic Falls High everyone was preparing the annual carnival, considering Caroline was still in hospital Elena, Bonnie and Grace volunteered to take care of everything for her.
"Fayth looked just like you, it was freakish." Bonnie explained to the telepath.
"She's my ancestor." Grace shrugged trying to push away the conversation of vampires.
"Hey, I moved the student booth into the cafeteria." Elena told a random kid as she caught up with the two.
"Your vampire ancestor and she didn't just resemble you like a family member would. She was you." Bonnie replied.
"I don't know, I can't explain it." Grace shrugged "It's creepy, that's all I got right now."
"How do you know she's not still out there pretending to be you? Or Katherine is pretending to be you." Bonnie looked at Elena.
"We don't." Grace replied "But I could sit here and be tortured by the not-knowing or I could get these prizes to the ring toss." The telepath looked at a box full of stuff cuddly animals.
"Have you talk to Damon since he killed Jeremy? Or tried to kill Jeremy?" Bonnie creased her eye brows and Elena looked at Grace curiously.
"No Bonnie, I haven't and won't and I don't want to talk about Damon or anything else that's Vampire related." Grace picked up and box violently "I'm a telepath, which is basically human just with a creepy weird parlour trick, and I'm going to continued to pretend that I can't read minds or there is no crazy Damon or vampire crap. Otherwise I will end up going crazy." Grace told her.
"OK, I'm sorry, I'll focus." Bonnie nodded "We have to make Caroline proud or she will kill us. I don't know how she does this."
"Well, because she's not human, obviously." Elena laughed, budging Grace as she laughed too.
"Obviously." Bonnie agreed and they all laugh again.
Jeremy and Stefan are in the hallway inside the school leaning back against Jeremy's locker as the vampire held a small vial of watered down vervain.
"It's the same as the bracelet Elena gave you." Stefan explained.
"It protects me from compulsion." Jeremy nodded.
"Vervain is toxic to Vampires." Stefan added.
"Like poison?" Jeremy questioned.
"Yeah, it's very poisonous. It keeps them out if your head..." Stefan explained.
"nice why Vervain?" Jeremy asked curiously.
"Don't know." Stefan shrugged "certain natural herbs and roots and other elements are just harmful to Vampires..."
"Like a stake to the heart?" Jeremy questioned.
"Right, but it has to be wood." Stefan replied.
"You're pretty confident in yourself telling me all the different ways I could kill you." Jeremy eyed him suspiciously as he slipped the small vial into his bag.
"Jeremy, if I thought you wanted to kill me we would be having a much different conversation." Stefan smirked lightly.
"Yeah, Damon is the one that deserves it." Jeremy growled vengefully.
"I want you to forget about Damon, all right? He's a hundred times stronger than you and right now he's not stable. You got to try to move forward." Stefan told him cautiously.
I was killed by a vampire and bright back by a magic ring. How do you move forward from that?" Jeremy questioned.
Stefan could hear Elena coming from behind him "Right. Well, today we have a nice little distraction courtesy of the slave driver Elena." She appeared next to him "Hello Elena."
"Hey, did you-"
"Yeah, yeah, I set up the gold fish toss all three hundred gold fish." Jeremy's voice was thick with sarcasm "It's gonna be epic!" He rolled his eyes slamming his locker shut and walking away, Elena sighed heavily and leaned back against his locker.
"He's going to be all right, he's just been through a little bit of an ordeal." Stefan explained.
"I was just hoping that this carnival would reel him back into the land of a high school teenager." Elena replied.
"That was what we were doing here?" Stefan cocked an eye brow.
"Yes, we all are. We're going to be boring high school students, who don't have witch powers, or telepathic powers and don't mention the 'v' word at all." Elena replied.
"Got it!" Stefan saluted her.
"Ten later you're going to take me to the Ferris wheel, we're going to ride it to the very top and then you're going to kiss me and my heart with flutter like a normal high school girl... Do you see the running theme here?" She laughed.
"Yeah I know, I'm seeing it and I'm liking it, but quick question. Uh, what do we do about Damon and Grace?" Stefan asked "She's seem pretty pissed-"
"Uh, no. No mention of the 'D' word, especially in front of Grace unless you want her to rip your head of like a normal teenage girl would." Elena joked and Stefan laughed "But seriously, Stefan, I think we should leave that situation in the do not discuss pile."
"Unfortunately Fayth showing up has him in a little bit of an odd place, a little bit off-kilterr, kind off dangerous. Who know what he's up to?" Stefan wonder.
Damon was at the Lockwood Mansion speaking to Carol about her husbands death, trying to work out why the device would affect him too.
"So I understand John Gilbert has left town." Carol nodded as she sipped her tea "Have they found the vampire that attacked him?"
"Well, the Sheriff has asked me to take the lead on that and I promise you I will get to the bottom of it." Damon smiled.
"Which brings me to my next subject. With Richard gone, I'll be acting as interim Mayor until the elections and I'm going to need someone to spearhead out the council. I'd like that someone to be you..." Carol smiled at the Vampire.
"Whatever you need, Carol." Damon smiled "As a founding family member it's something that's very close to me, so I would be honoured to help keep this town safe from vampires." He smirked gently.
Mason and Tyler enter the house from behind them stretching out after their long run, Carol peered over her shoulder at her brother-in-law and son before walking over and closing the door to her new office.
"Is it safe to talk?" Damon questioned.
"It's my brother-in-law, Mason. He's still visiting. I just don't want him to hear us. He didn't want any part of the council when he lived here and I see no reason to bring him into it now..." Carol shook her blonde head from side to side, Damon nodded but used his supernatural hearing to listen in of Tyler and Mason's conversation the other side of the door.
"What was that? Like seven?" Tyler questioned his uncle as they stood in the welcome area just getting back from their run.
"Six. I don't count the last one. You crawled It." He teased.
"What?" Tyler scoffed.
"I think Grandma Lockwood actually passed you, in her walker." Mason smirked at his joke.
"Yeah, OK." Tyler rolled his eyes "Shoes off. Mud, my mom..." he pulled a face.
"Yeah, yeah." Mason brushed him off sitting down removing his shoes "So all this anger and aggression you're talking about, you notice a difference when you exercise?" Mason asked coyly.
"Dude, I play three varsity sports. I work out four times a week and I run three, I'm going to say no." Tyler shook his head.
"Do you have episodes? What happens exactly?" Mason asked curiously.
"Starts out normal, I get angry typically over noting. I'm an angry guy. I don't know it just amplifies and I just go off." Tyler shrugged.
"You black out?" Mason asked.
"Yeah, it's like I go blind with rage..." Tyler replied.
"Is there a pattern? Like once a month, only at night?" Mason looked at his nephew with a secretive look on his face.
"All I know if I loose myself, you know? For that time I become something else and I hate it." Tyler shuddered.
Damon creased his eye brows at the conversation the uncle and nephew were having, he looked forward to see that Carol had been talking the entire time.
"More tea? Damon?" Carol asked holding the tea pot.
"Oh yes, please. Thank you, Carol." Damon smiled.
Back at Mystic Falls Hospital Caroline is cooped up in her room legs crossed on her bed, she noticed a small ray of light trickling from the window, putting her hand out to touch the light she quickly retreated it when a sizzling noise was heard and pain shot through her body. Matt walked through the door with a tray of food.
"You mom said you're not eating." Matt noted.
"It's gross." Caroline's stomach churned when she thought of eating human food.
"It's hospital good; it's supposed to be gross." Matt scoffed leaning forwards half way so that she could met him in the middle and kiss him, but Caroline avoided eye contact with him, awkwardly Matt pulled back "She also said you're getting released tomorrow morning."
"Morning? I need to get out tonight." Caroline told him.
"No, the carnival is going to happen without you, Caroline. I know it's hard for your neurotic control freak personality to process but Bonnie, Grace and Elena have it." Matt assured her.
"I'm not neurotic." She denied.
"Yeah you are, but it's cute so-"
"Look, it's not about the carnival OK? It's just that this place is just really depressing..." Caroline lied.
"It's because you're sitting in the dark." Matt chuckled opening the curtain as he turned back around he saw Caroline pressing herself flat against the opposite wall avoiding direct contact with the sun light "What the hell?"
"Just close it, please." The blonde begged.
"What's wrong with you?" Matt questioned concerned.
"Close it!" Caroline barked.
Matt reached over and closed the curtains before turning back to see that his girlfriend was a little more relaxed "I'll just come back later, OK?" He questioned before leaving the room.
At the Salvatore Boarding House Damon was pouring a blood pouch into a glass when Stefan walked into the library standing in the door way watching him.
"Care for one?" Damon smirked gesturing to a second glass.
"No, thank you. I'm not hungry, just ate." Stefan shrugged patting his stomach gently.
"Are you worried that one day, all the forest animals are going to band together and fight back? I mean, surely they talk." Damon scoffed.
"I'm just happy that's a blood bag and not a sorority girl supplying your dinner." Stefan nodded.
"I like this. You, walking on egg shells around me because you think I'm going to explode. Very suspenseful. Is Grace worried too? I bet I'm your every conversation." Damon grinned.
"Have you heard from Fayth?" Stefan questioned "Or Katherine."
"I think the Lockwoods have a family secret because the Gilbert device affected them but Vervain didn't so they're not vampires, they're something else." He ignored Stefan's conversation about the Pierce sisters.
"Is this your new obsession?" Stefan questioned his older brother.
"You'd rather have some unknown supernatural element running rampant upon our town. Fine, I'll drop it." Damon smirked.
"We haven't seen the last of Katherine and Fayth, you do know that right? We have no idea what they are up to..." Stefan replied.
"Sure we do. Katherine came back yo profess her undying love for you so I'm going to let you deal with her because I have more important things to do like ... explode. Cheers!" He motioned his glass to him.
Back at Mystic Falls Hospital Caroline was getting ready to leave the hospital, it was darker outside now and was hoping that she wouldn't get burned again. Putting her necklace that Elena had given her on she quickly tore it off when she head a sickening sizzle.
"That's pretty." The Nurse picked it up admiring it.
"Yeah, my friend gave it to me." Caroline nodded touching the burned skin of her neck.
The nurse smiled as she placed it on the table and walking from the room, grabbing a hidden blood pouch she sucked from it, something caught her attention in the mirror, her eyes were blood red and there were thick veins under them, a scream erupted from her lips.
"What's wrong?" The nurse ran in concerned.
Grabbing the nurse by her neck she shoved her back against the wall holding her there by her neck unsure of her true strength and powers.
"You can't tell anyone, you can't tell anyone!" Caroline told her fearfully as she began to unknowingly compel her.
"I can't tell anyone." The nurse repeated.
"You'll do what I say?" Caroline asked almost confused.
"I'll do what you say." She told her with a glassy look and small nod.
"Good, because I'm starving." Caroline's fangs pushed down and she tore into the woman's neck savagely.
At Mystic Falls High the carnival was going great, Bonnie walked over to the twins as they walked around the with clipboards and big smiles.
"The ring toss is out of Bart and Homer dolls, oh and Team Jacob T's." Bonnie told them.
"You know I always liked Jacob better, because he wasn't a vampire." Grace noted as she walked away to get the stuffed toys.
"I take it she's still a little sore about the whole Damon thing." Bonnie asked and Elena just shrugged a little "Don't get me wrong she has a right to be, I am..."
"Oh, we also lost a speaker at the karaoke booth." Elena told her.
"Hey, all good Elena, take a beat, look around. This is a huge success." Bonnie smiled.
"You mean I can do more than just reek vampire havoc." Elena joked.
"Go figure." Bonnie winked.
Elena noticed a young man with olive tone skin repairing one of the stands, be perfect for repairing the karaoke, Elena walked over to him with Bonnie following.
"Hey, Carter, right? You're with the carnival?" Elena asked.
"That'll be me." Carter smiled in return.
"OK, great." Elena glanced over at Bonnie.
"Wow, what do you need beautiful?" Carter flirted with the witch.
"What do you know about Karaoke speakers?" Bonnie asked feeling her cheeks begin to heat up with embarrassment.
"Why don't you show me the problem?" Carter stepped forward.
"Yeah Bonnie, show him the problem." Elena budged her with a small giggle falling from her lips.
"OK, come on." Bonnie and Carter left in the direction of the karaoke booth and Elena smiled to herself.
Across town at the Lockwood mansion, Mason was shuffling around his brothers office snooping through his draws trying to search for a lost item.
"What are you doing?" Tyler walked in the room.
"Nothing, just killing time." Mason stood up from searching the dead Mayor's desk "Waiting for you." He added.
"You looking for something?" Tyler asked casually.
"Yeah actually." Mason nodded "You know where I can find any family artefact stuff? Heirlooms?" Mason questioned coyly.
"You drained your trust find already." Tyler laughed.
"I did that when I was 22." Mason scoffed "No, I'm just looking for this old piece of my mom's. My dad gave it to her when they got married. It's a sentimental value. Probably passed down to your dad. It just has to be in the house here somewhere." Mason began opening draws again.
"What's it look like?" Tyler put forward.
"It's a moon stone; it's about the size of a hockey puck. Old, ugly, minimal monetary value." Mason shrugged.
"Hey man, whatever." Tyler held up his hands "Ask my mom I guess."
"Yeah, cool, I'll do that. You ready?" Mason asked.
"Yeah." Tyler nodded.
At the popcorn booth at Mystic Falls High Jeremy was stood buying himself a treat taking some time off all the work Elena and Grace had him do, Damon walked over to him.
"Jeremy, it's so good to see you alive." Damon told him a smirk on his face.
"Aren't you a little old for a high school carnival?" Jeremy walked away from him.
"A 150 years too old." Damon smirked as he trailed after him following him through the large crowd.
"You're pretty funny cracking jokes when I could I don't know ... blow the whole lid off this thing by telling someone what you really are." Jeremy threatened, Damon quickly grabbed his arm yanking him from the crowd into a quiet part of the carnival behind a ride.
"So please tell me that is not a threat." Damon smirked.
"Maybe it is." Jeremy flashed him the Gilbert ring before walking away, but Damon was angry and grabbed the young teen by the throat from behind.
"This is what we're not going to do: we're not going to walk around like we are invincible when it's this easy for me to end you." Damon let him go "If you want to tell people what I really am go ahead and try." Damon held Jeremy's ring in front of him "I will shove this ring so far up your ass, you'll really have something to choke on." Damon growled throwing him his ring back and leaving him standing there rasping for breath.
"The doctor said I'm good as new." Caroline announced down the phone, she was now dressed in street clothes and getting ready to leave the hospital "He said that I didn't have to wait until morning, so call me when you get this." She hung up turning to see the nurse from before sitting on her hospital bed, a large white bandage was noticeable on her neck.
"It's dark, thank God." Caroline breathed looking through the curtains "I'm so sorry about that." She checked under the bandage "OK, now what's the story?"
"My husband likes to get kinky." The nurse repeated what Caroline had told her to say.
"Yes, good." Caroline smiled "OK, so I'm going to take off. I'm the committee chair person for the carnival and I'm worried it's a complete disaster. I mean God bless Elena, but she does not understand the word fabulous." The blonde laughed reaching over and grabbing her bag "Again I'm so sorry about that and if you could just forget that I bit you that would great because I'm going to-"
"Forget what?" The nurse was compelled again, by accident.
"I don't know how that works, but it's brilliant." Caroline giggled as she sprung from the room.
"Hey, Ty." Grace walked over with a kind smile on her face holding a load of T shirts struggling to carry them all, Tyler grinned at the girl
"Need some help there." Tyler took the shirts from her hands and placed them down on a table behind him "I'm just about to beat this kid at arm wrestling, want to watch."
"Sure." Grace smiled observing the competition "Once quick match then I got to dash."
"You're lurking." Stefan told Damon as he saw him watching Tyler Lockwood at the arm wrestling booth.
"I'm observing." Damon replied sharply.
"More like obsessing." Stefan countered.
Tyler won and Damon couldn't help but watch Grace laugh as she hugged Tyler, then turning back and talking to a girl in the crowd.
"He's got strength." Damon said through his teeth.
"He's a triple letter varsity athlete." Stefan shrugged "Of course he has strength. You're reaching."
Mason walked over to the booth and challenged his nephew to a match, Damon smirked gently as the match started.
"Enter the uncle." Damon announced.
"This is ridiculous." Stefan shook his head, the match started and the brothers watched as Mason beat his nephew with ease.
"OK, he's the champ." Tyler accepted defeat looking around him "Who wants to go next?"
"Stefan wants to go." Damon put his brother up for a game and Mason nodded, Stefan really had no choice.
"Yeah, sure, I'll ... give it a shot." He rolled his eyes walking over to the table and got in the position to begin.
"Get him, Stef!" Damon taunted from the side lines, he notice that Grace peered over her shoulder at him when he did so, her eyes narrowed and he wiggled his fingers at her "Hey, Gracie"
"My brother over there thinks I can beat you." Stefan shrugged his shoulders.
"Your brothers wrong." Mason replied obnoxiously, as they began to arm wrestle, both of them put hard pressure on each others hands, Stefan was surprised by his strength, even though he could easily beat him the vampire let him win anyway.
Shaking his hand a little Stefan walked over to Grace to check if she was OK, a small nod later Grace grabbed the T-shirts from the side, waving goodbye to Tyler as she walked away from the crowd.
"You didn't put in any effort at all." Damon growled at his younger brother.
"Yeah, actually I did." Stefan replied.
"Come with me." Damon walked away his brother lugged along after him "Is it?"
"No, no. It wasn't that kind of strength, but ti was more than human, if that makes sense." Stefan replied.
"What is up with that family? They're not vampires, what the hell are they?" Damon asked.
"Maybe they're ninja turtles." Stefan mocked.
"You're not funny." Damon narrowed his beautiful icy blue orbs.
"Or zombies, werewolves." Stefan smirked.
"No comedic timing at all." Damon shook his head, he then saw Carter was repairing a speaker that Bonnie had shown him.
"What? What are you up to?" Stefan asked.
"Since this is reality and there's no such thing as werewolves or combat turtles-" Damon was cut off.
"I said ninja turtles, actually." Stefan stated.
Narrowing his eyes Damon walked towards Carter "hey you!"
"I have a name." Carter told him.
"Yeah, I don't care." Damon replied bluntly grabbing his shoulders beginning to compel him "I need you to pick a fight with someone, a kid named Tyler Lockwood."
"Damon, don't do this." Stefan told him.
"It's just an experiment." Damon replied to his brother before turning back to Carter "Get him mad, don't back down no matter what he does, OK?"
"I won't back down." Carter nodded.
"I know you won't." Damon let him go and Carter left the two.
"Do you realise someone is going to get hurt, right?" Stefan asked his brother.
"No, someone is going to get mad, as in rage." Damon replied.
"What's that going to accomplish?" Stefan shook his head.
"That Tyler kid is incapable of walking away from a fight. Let's see who intervenes, maybe it's the ambiguous, supernatural mystery uncle." Damon's eyes flared with excitement as he walked away from his brother, walking through a hall of the school he stopped when he saw a distinctive flowing locks of honeycomb hair.
"Hey Blondie, they let you out?" Damon asked.
"I remember." Caroline stood there, hands on her hips.
"What do you remember?" Damon questioned.
"I remember how you manipulated me, you pushed me around, abused me, erased my memories, fed on me." Caroline said the last statement slowly.
"You're crazy." Damon denied everything.
"Memories have been coming back, in pieces." Caroline nodded.
"You can't remember. It's impossible, I mean unless you're becoming a-" his eyes grew wide as a grin appeared on her lips
"I have a message from Fayth, she said 'Game on.'" Caroline went to walk away.
"Wait..." He called, she turned and zipped towards him shoving him halfway down the hall with her new found supernatural strength.
"You suck." She spat as she left the room.
Grace was explaining something to one of her school friends about one of the fun booths placed around the school yard "So then I need to you to go-"
"Grace." Damon was standing next to her.
"I'll be right there, Molly." Grace told the girl and she walked away "What do you want, Damon?"
"I know I'm the last person you want to right now, but I need you to come with me." Damon told her innocently
"Whatever it is I'm not interested." Grace told him narrowing her eyes.
"Yeah, I need you to come with me right now, Grace." Damon hissed "Or I will make you."
"How are you going to do that?" Grace spat.
Quickly picking her up Grace screamed as he threw her over his shoulder carrying her firefighter style, she hit his back repeatedly but he just laughed.
Tyler was walking through the parking lot, he didn't notice that Stefan was following him hiding behind a car so he couldn't see him. Carter walked over and shoulder barged Tyler hard.
"Watch where you are going." Tyler growled.
"You got a problem?" Carter provoked him.
"Yeah, you walked right into me now." Tyler replied.
"What are you going to do about it?" Carter pushed him.
"You're kidding me, right?" Tyler laughed as Carter then shoved him hard "You better back of." He warned, but Carter went back for more "you hit me again, I swear to God-" Carter swung and punched Tyler square in the face, they begin to fight and Mason caught Carter pulling him away.
"What the hell man?" Mason growled at the carnival worker as he advanced on him, but Mason grabbed him by his throat shoving him back a little and smacking him around the face for good measure.
Carter then hit Mason so hard that he fell backwards over a car onto the floor, he ran for Tyler again and they began to spar in the middle of the road, Carter managed to push the teen to the ground. Quickly Mason jumped up onto his feet, leaping over the car he then jumped clean over Carter down onto all fours, his true eye colours now showing.
"Your eyes." Tyler whispered as he saw the glowing madness of Mason's eye colour change.
Turning away from his nephew Mason hit Carter with all his strength and the olive toned boy fell to the floor. Grabbing Tyler him and Mason quickly leave the scene and Stefan quickly ran over to the hurt boy.
"You all right man?" Stefan asked.
"Why did I just do that?" Carter asked confused.
"You were just in the wrong place at the wrong time." Stefan shook his head.
Caroline saw her boyfriend standing over by the ringtoss, skipping over he was surprised to see her there at the carnival when she was meant to be in hospital still.
"What are you doing here?" Matt asked.
"They discharged me, all better." Caroline grinned.
"How do you feel?" Matt questioned concerned.
"I feel pretty good." Caroline nodded.
"Yeah, 'cause earlier you were-"
"I'm all better." The blonde cut her boyfriend off before kissing him "all better."
"OK, you want to give it a shot?" Matt passed her a ring and she nodded, throwing it trying to win a prize she managed to smash three of the bottles not knowing her strength.
"Whoa, hey, nice shot, killer." Matt laughed.
"They must have already been broken." Caroline tried to make up an excuse, Matt chucked as he embraced her tightly, she glanced up and saw the blood pulsing through his neck.
"Oh no." She whispered pulling back.
"What's wrong?" Matt asked concerned for his girlfriend.
"I got to go." Caroline turned and left, but Matt followed her.
"Wait Care, are you OK, I mean-"
"Just leave me alone!" Caroline spat turning and briskly walking away from a confused Matt.
"Damon! Put me down! I'll stake you! You jerk!" Grace screamed as Damon walked her in Alaric's classroom.
"Damon, put her down." Stefan told him, he was already sat in there with Elena.
Damon placed her onto her feet and Grace punched him as hard as she could in the chest, Damon smirked as she went and sat next to her sister arms crossed over her chest pouting.
"So why did you call us all here?" Stefan asked.
"Caroline is a vampire." Damon suddenly stated.
"Wait, what?" Grace looked up suddenly from where she sat "You're lying."
"Gods honest truth." Damon held his hands up "Blondie told me she remembers everything of what I did to her, and then she shoved me halfway down a corridor." Damon replied.
"Can't say I don't blame her." Grace muttered.
"I understand you're pissed but-"
"Damon, now is not the time." Stefan replied firmly "Did Caroline say anything else?"
"That Fayth said 'game on.'" Damon shook his head gently.
"How did this happen?" Elena breathed.
"Well, I fed her blood and Fayth obviously killed her so A plus B equals-"
"But why?" Grace spoke up cutting him off.
"Because Fayth is a manipulative nasty little slut." Damon replied bluntly.
"And she said 'game on' what does that mean?" Stefan pondered from where he sat.
"It means they are playing dirty, they wants us to know." Damon replied.
"But why Caroline?" Elena asked.
"I don't know." Damon admitted.
"Caroline must be completely out of her mind, she doesn't even know what's happening to her." Stefan murmured.
"Oh, I think she does. All my compulsion from the past started waring off the minute she was in transition." Damon reminded him.
"We have to find her." Grace announced standing up.
"Yep and kill her." Damon added.
"What? You're not going to kill Caroline." Grace told him firmly.
"She knows who we are. She's officially a liability, and we've got to get rid of her." Damon replied taking a step towards the brunette.
"Damon, absolutely not." Stefan shook his head.
"Need I remind you of a tragic little story of a girl named Vicki Donovan? Caroline, of all people will not make it as a vampire. Her mother is a vampire hunter. Guys, come on, we all know how this story's going to end, just flip to the last chapter and-" Grace slapped him hard, this took Damon by surprise and he looked down at her angrily.
"It's not an option, Damon." Grace growled.
"No?" Damon grabbed her shoving her back against a wall holding her there, his toned body pressed against hers, and his hands pinning her hands above her head making her incapable of moving "Are you going to have to go out and killed almost killed again when Caroline flips out? Am I going to be there to save you again, like the last time?"
"Damon." Stefan was standing behind them ready to step in if it got out of hand or violent.
Damon growled "I'm not about to let you get hurt by the hands of blondie-"
"Damon, that won't happen." Grace struggled against his grip.
"I'm doing this for you-" Damon tried to tell her, but she wasn't having none of it.
"No. You're doing this for you." Grace broke from his iron grip "I'm putting my foot down, Damon. Caroline will not die." She left the room and Elena chased after her.
"Your silence is deafening, Stefan." Damon growled turning to his brother.
"She put you in your place." Stefan noted perching on the corner of the desk.
"Wait. Wasn't there a school carnival the night you staked Vicki? Talk about a town where history repeats itself. Yo know I'm right."
"I'm with Grace. We're not going to kill her." Stefan walked from the room trying to find the twins.
"It's the only way." Damon called before punching the wall denting it.
Caroline was alone crying away from the carnival, she was taken back when a thick smell of blood filled her head, turning she saw Carter sitting on the back of a trailer cleaning himself up from the fight he had just got into with Tyler.
"Hey, is everything OK?" Carter asked when he saw the crying blonde.
"I'm so sorry." Caroline sobbed.
"What?" Carter was confused by her apology, sprinting towards him she bit him and began to drain him until there was nothing left.
Matt was standing with Bonnie talking about the trouble he was having with Caroline, she was confused that the blonde had been allowed out of hospital already.
"She's obviously pissed at me for something but for what, no clue." Matt told the witch.
"What happened?" Bonnie asked confused by Matt's story.
"She freaked out and she's been like that all day. Cool one minute and crazy and neurotic the next." Matt replied.
"She almost died, it's bound to mess with her head. Plus, she's Caroline." Bonnie smirked.
"Yeah, I'm used to the insecurities and all that. It's who she is, love it or hate it but this seemed I don't know...different. I can't explain it." Matt shook his head gently.
Damon was walking around the outskirts of the carnival looking for Caroline, he saw a wood stake like object on the ground and picked up as he continued to search for the missing, newly vampire blonde.
Grace and Stefan were walking around the carnival too looking for Caroline, Elena had gone to look for Jeremy to check it he was OK.
"You agree with Damon don't you." Grace whispered turning to look into Stefan's hazel eyes.
A low growl escaped Stefan's lips as he turned and punched a wall clearly frustrated with the problem that he was having.
"Stefan. Hey." Grace looked at him.
"Damon's right." Stefan finally admitted and Grace groaned "not about what we should do, but about what's going to happen. Fayth's already decided Caroline's death sentence."
"We can't let it end that way. They're doing to me and Elena, aren't they?" Grace whispered.
"No, Katherine's doing it to me." Stefan sighed.
Mason and Tyler walked into the Lockwood mansion, it was quiet and there was no one around, Carol must had been out, possibly at the carnival.
"Well, we're home. Safe territory, enough with the silence." Tyler told him as he shut the door.
"I told you to leave it alone." Mason warned.
"What was that move you pulled?" Tyler questioned curiously.
"Brazilian martial arts, I took some classes a while back." Mason shrugged.
"Don't lie to me!" Tyler told him.
"I'm not lying." Mason shook his head.
"I saw something!" Tyler nodded certain that he saw the glowing boldness of his irises.
"You didn't see anything." Mason replied.
"I saw your eyes, they glowed." Tyler confirmed.
"Reflection of a car headlight maybe, that's all." Mason shrugged blowing him off.
"Reflection of a car headlight..." The teen scoffed.
"Yes," Mason nodded.
"You really expect me to believe that?" Tyler growled.
"Tyler! You want to know what you saw? You saw me get pissed off that I had to pull your delinquent ass out of a fight!" he barked before walking away.
It wasn't long until Elena caught back up with Grace and Stefan, they had continued looking for Caroline, but still had no luck, Stefan started to crease his eye brows when he smelt something odd in the air.
"Where could she be?" Elena asked when she saw Stefan's face "What is it? Do you hear her? What's going on, Stefan, what is it?" She asked.
"Blood, I can smell blood." Stefan replied.
Caroline was sobbing next to Carter's dead body, Damon see's the blonde's shoulders shaking and as he walks over she looks up to reveal the blood staining her face.
"He's dead." She cried "I killed him. What's wrong with me?" Caroline sobbed even harder.
"Hey, hey it's OK." Damon tried to sooth her "I can help you."
"You can?" Caroline look up drying her eyes with her bloody hands.
"Yeah, I have to." Damon smiled trying to act nice.
"What are you going to do?" Caroline asked as she climbed to be standing in front of him.
"The only think I can do." Damon's voice as sweet and calm "I'm going to kill you." He kept the same tone.
"Please don't!" Caroline begged "I don't want to die!"
"Yeah, but you're already dead." Damon shrugged.
"No! I'm not! Don't say that, OK! Just help me!" Caroline sobbed again.
"OK." Damon nodded.
"OK? Just help me please! Please, please!" Caroline looked up at him as he nodded.
Damon embraced her tightly holding the stake at her back when Stefan arrived and zipped over to be standing in between them "Stefan!" the raven haired vampire complained as the stake was slapped from his hand.
Grace soon arrived with Elena and they were standing with Caroline, the blondes eyes grew wide when she saw the two.
"Get away from me!" Caroline hollered at Grace thinking that she was her murderer Fayth "You killed me!"
"No, no! Caroline! That wasn't me! That wasn't us!" Grace held her hands up "That was Fayth and Katherine!"
"No! Then why did they look like you? And why, why did she do this to me!" Caroline sobbed again.
"Stefan, we have to get her inside." Elena told her.
"It's OK, Caroline." Stefan soothed her holding her gently "Come with me."
"She'll die! It's only a matter of time!" Damon yelled.
"Damon!" Grace hissed as she turned to him "Shut up! This isn't going to happen! Get over it!"
"Yes, it is." Damon growled as he picked up the stake again and went for her, quickly Grace stood in front of the blonde blocking Damon from getting to her, the stake was pressed against the brunettes soft skin just waiting for Damon to plunge the wood in.
"Damon, she's my friend." Grace whispered making him look into her eyes "You'd have to kill me first"
Damon hesitated before lowering his arm staring down into her eyes, a small breath fell from Grace's lips as he did so.
"Whatever happens, it's on you." Damon replied to her and Grace nodded.
Bonnie arrived at the scene to see everyone standing there, the first thing that caught her eye was the blood staining Caroline's facial features.
"Caroline?" Bonnie asked.
"It's OK, come on." Stefan tried to pull her away.
"No, you're not; you can't be." The witch whispered before grabbing her arm feeling the vampire connection, her face was horrified by the truth as she immediately withdrew her hand.
"Bonnie?" Caroline dried her eyes.
Bonnie noticed the dead body of Carter and covered her mouth tears falling from her eyes "Oh God."
"Bonnie-" Caroline tried to get her attention but was dragged away by Stefan as Elena followed, he lead the two girls into a bathroom and began to dry the already dried blood away from her chin.
"She hates me! Bonnie hates me." Caroline sobbed.
"No, she's just in shock, we all are." Elena explained.
"And what about Matt?" Caroline began to cry harder.
"Hush. One thing at one time, let's get this blood off, come on." Stefan shhed the crying girl.
"I'm an m-m-murderer. I'm a monster!" Caroline whispered.
"Look at me, your emotions are heightened right now, it's part of the transformation, it's completely normal, I promise you okay?" Stefan soothed her to being quiet for only a moment.
Caroline caught her reflection in a mirror, her face was changing again to the darker, vampire state it would usually do, she began to panic again.
"Why does this keeping happening to my face?" Caroline yelled crying again.
"Look at me, look at me, look at me! Caroline, Caroline! Look at me! Look at my face, look at my face!" Stefan made his face change too "You see that? When you feel the blood rushing, you tell yourself that you're going to get through it, that you're strong enough. Yes, yes, no matter how good it feels to give yourself over to it, you fight it off, you bury it. Watch me, watch me." He soothed his face so he was back to the way she remembered it "It's the only way you're gonna survive this thing. Try." He encouraged her and after a few breaths she was back to normal again "That's good."
"Why did Fayth do this to me?" Caroline asked a little calmer.
"I don't know, I wish I did. Hey, hey, I promise you I will not let anything happen to you. Come here." He hugged her gently and a small smile appeared on Elena's lips as she had never seen this side of Stefan before.
Grace was standing with Bonnie as they watched the dead body as if it was about to come back to life, but it wouldn't he was dead.
"I can't believe this is happening." Bonnie whispered shaking her head gently.
Damon walked around the corner he had a shovel in his hands as he watched the two with a smirk, Grace scowled a deathly glare at him.
"Come on, don't pout about it, I've got a body to bury." He motioned to Carter "I thought you were calling the shots, no? It sucks to be you, buddy."
Bonnie turned her head and narrowed her eyes beginning to chant a spell inside her head, suddenly the vampire fell the ground doubling over in pain holding his head, a hose turned on behind him and Grace couldn't help but notice the stench of gasoline fill the air.
"I told you what would happen if anyone else got hurt." Bonnie hissed at him.
"I didn't do this." Damon groaned in pain as he felt a water begin to gush over him.
"Bonnie, it wasn't his fault." Grace quickly defended Damon.
"Everything that happens is his fault, Elena." Bonnie growled at the telepath.
"Bonnie what are you doing?" Grace looked shocked when a fire started as it began to spread towards Damon "Bonnie, stop it!" Grace yelled as Damon began to burn with the fire, he called out in pain "Bonnie, Bonnie, stop it!" She ordered, but Bonnie was in a trance "You're going to kill him!" Damon continued to burn on the floor "Bonnie!" Grace jumped over the fire and shook the witch, but she reacted quickly and forced Grace back against a brick wall with her mind.
"Grace." Bonnie whispered seeing the telepath slumped on the ground "No, I didn't mean to. Grace." she ran over.
Damon groaned as he looked over at the witch shaking the telepath violently trying to wake her, as soon as Bonnie's concentration was broken the fire had stopped. Picking himself up he walked over to her tilting her head back.
"Move." He growled at Bonnie tearing into his wrist with his fangs.
"No! No more." Bonnie tried to pull him away from her, but it was too late Damon fed his blood to the girl and she began to come around.
"Wh-what happened?" Grace whispered as she felt the rest of Damon's blood pour down her neck.
A little while later inside the school Elena was at her locker closing it when she saw Stefan walk over.
"Is Grace OK?" Elena asked.
"She's fine. Damon is just taking her home." Stefan replied seeing the look that Elena was giving him "Listen, I don't trust Damon with most things, but I trust him to be able to look after Grace, he's saved her life on countless occasions now."
"I know that has to be just about the only thing I'm grateful to him for." Elena nodded "What about the guy that Caroline..."
"It's taken care of." Stefan let that statement hang.
"Damon's right, isn't he? It won't end well for her." Elena sighed when she thought of losing one of her best friends.
"No, I'm going to make sure that he's wrong." Stefan replied determined to make sure Caroline would make it.
"I just can't believe what this day turned into." Elena shook her head.
"Not your normal day, huh?" Stefan shrugged leaning back against the lockers.
"I was stupid to think that it could be. I mean, nothing about my life is normal. My twin is a telepath, my best friend is a witch, my friend is a vampire oh and to top it all off me and my twin have doppelgänger's who are hell-bent on destroying us all." Elena shook her head thinking of her crazy, supernatural life.
"I'm sorry." Stefan looked down.
"no, it's not your fault, Stefan. It's no one's fault you know? It is what it is..." Elena replied as he softly touched her face leaning close.
"I'm fine, I'm fine." She nodded "It's just that... you know what? I'm fine. I'm going to call you tomorrow, OK? Good night, Stefan." She walked away from him.
"Here we are." Damon laid Grace softly in his bed brushing her hair back off her face, she was trying to fight against him, but was far too weak to even try and leave his home.
"Damon, I need to go home." Grace moaned turning onto her stomach not wanting to leave, but she wasn't going to give in that fast.
"Tomorrow." Damon whispered "Can I get you anything? Something to ease the pain? A drink?"
"No thank you." Grace yawned into the pillow getting comfortable on his bed.
"All right in that case just sleep." Damon sat next to her as she began to fall asleep.
Across town at the Lockwood mansion Carol and Mason were talking about Tyler having another man in the house as they stood in the welcome area.
"I think it's good for Tyler to have you in the house." Carol smiled at him.
"I appreciate that Carol." Mason nodded.
"Oh, and I can see if I can dig up that stone you're looking for. It's bound to be tucked away in one of Richard''s nooks and crannies." Carol replied as she began to walk up the stairs, but as she reached the top she heard Tyler walked in the house.
"Hey man, you heading up?" Mason asked his nephew.
"In a minute. Good night mom." Tyler called up the stairs to his mother.
"Good night Tyler." Carol called as she walked to her bedroom.
"Hey, I'm sorry about earlier, we're all good?" Mason asked Tyler.
"Yeah, we're good." Tyler smiled and manly hugged his uncle.
"All right." Mason smiled and walked up the stairs too.
Tyler listened to make sure Mason was in his room shutting the door before walking into his father's office closing the door behind him, he lifted the rug to reveal a safe, unlocking it he reached in and grabbed a box opening it to see the moonstone that Mason was looking for inside, taking it from the box he placed it in his pocket and put everything back the way it was.
Back at the Salvatore Boarding house Damon observed Grace snoring lightly before grabbing his scotch glass from the side and walking from the room into the Salvatore library, as he began to pour himself a glass of bourbon he heard footsteps behind him, glancing over his shoulder he saw Jeremy standing there.
"What the hell are you doing here?" Damon asked turning fully to face the teenager.
"You don't lock your front door." Jeremy replied.
"Yeah." Damon brought the glass up to his lips.
"No, I wouldn't... I laced it with Vervain." Jeremy told him and Damon put the glass down on the side.
"Why would you do that?" Damon creased his eye brows when Jeremy held a stake out to him.
"So I could stake you... with this." Jeremy replied but just dropped it to the floor instead and Damon picked it up and inspected the makeshift stake nodding gently.
"You came here to kill me." Damon noted.
"It's only fair, you killed me first." Jeremy replied.
"What made you wisen up" Damon questioned.
"My father hated vampires, my uncle too. They were absolute they knew exactly what they stood for and I figured maybe I should too. I mean, stand for something but killing you, what's that gonna do?" Jeremy shrugged a sigh falling from his lips.
"Look, I don't do the big brother thing very well... That's Stefan's job... I don't have any milk and cookies to offer you." Damon replied trying to get the boy to leave.
"Dick." Jeremy hissed as he walked towards the door.
"Wait." Damon stopped him "My father hated vampires too." Damon let Jeremy know.
"He did?" Jeremy looked at him.
"For the same reasons your dad did. Only it was 1864, people knew how to whittle." Damon smirked as he inspected the badly made stake "Did you do this?"
"Yeah I tried; it's a lot harder than it looks." Jeremy nodded smiling gently.
Caroline was laying in her bed when someone opened the window, zipping over she saw Matt climb through it.
"What are you doing here?" Caroline smiled.
"I cam to see if today's basket case period has expired." Matt replied.
"You know you should do just go 'cause my mom is going to be home soon." Caroline told him.
"You've been dodging me all day. I mean, I'm more insecure than you are now." Matt smirked.
"What do you mean?" Caroline creased her eye brows.
"It means that...you almost died and it really freaked me out and it got me thinking you know 'cause...I'm not in a position where I can lose someone else right now. I realized, even though today I wanted to throttle you, I'm pretty sure that I'm in love with you and now it seems like you don't feel the same way." Matt replied and she stood on her tip toes and kissed him passionately, pulling back they embraced each other, she felt her face begin to change but used the tip that Stefan had given her about taking deep breaths and her face returned to it's normal ways.
At the Gilbert house Elena was peacefully sleeping on the bed when Stefan walked in the room via the window, he walked over to his girlfriend and pressed his lips to her cheek, making her wake up, her eyes fluttering open.
"Hi." Her voice was thick with grog "What time is it?"
"It's almost dawn. Come with me."
They both arrive at the empty school carnival, Elena was dressed in normal clothes as he pulled her through the school yard towards the ferris wheel.
"Stefan what are we doing here? We could get caught." Elena giggled.
"I compelled the guard to take a break so I could kiss my girlfriend at the top of the Ferris wheel." Stefan grinned.
"Stefan-"
"We have to take these moments, Elena." Stefan cut her off "What Katherine did to Caroline could just be beginning and there are things with Tyler's family that we don't even understand yet and there's always the 'D' word mixed with the 'G' word which makes a whole new trouble that we can't even comprehend." Stefan laughed along with Elena "but I came back to this town to start a life with you... We can't forget to live it."
"But, Stefan, how are we going to get to the top?" Elena looked all the way up to the top of the Ferris wheel confused.
"I guess you'll just have to hold on tight." Stefan replied and Elena wrapped her arms around Stefan's neck and he jumped landing delicately inside of the Ferris wheel, she laughed and he smiled.
"What?" Elena asked.
"It's just nice to see you laugh." Stefan replied romantically as he leaned in and pressed his lips against hers.
"It's not going to get any easier, is it?" Elena asked as she pulled away snuggling against him.
"No, it's not." Stefan replied placing his arm around her shoulder.
A/N
Hey, sorry that I haven't updated in a while but I've been really busy with college work, but they will be some big events after this chapter, thanks to grapejuice101 for helping me make some decisions for the story :) I will try and get another couple of chapters up today ;)
Please review, fav and alert! Thank youuuu
Graciiee xx